i ever had, anyon erd. e's g caregiver as he was a teacher, god's in his heaven, all's right with the world. this law needs to be changed now so his wife can cast her ballot like every other registered pennsylvania voter. that's "hardball"or now. thanks for being with us. "the ed showwi ed scltz aritw. good evening, americans. and welcome to "the ed show" from new york. 40 days until the 2012 election. six days until the first esidential debate. 27 states allow americans to te early. including two who started today. eay sho m romney has far worse problems than the polls. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. seems like we've been waiting for this day for a long time. >> obama voters showed upn full force today in iowa. the election has begun in the tirst swing state witharly ane obama campaign isn't lettg up. >> my job is not to worry about those -- >> tonight, dnc chairwoman

debbie wasserman-schultz on the democratic effort to get out the vote in iowa and beyond. ott romney tape from heet his bain years. >> bain capital is an investment partnership. >> i'll ask robert reich what mitt romney means when he says he's harvesting companies. if it's a legitimate rape, st wng do by hasayso try >> and the guy who has no idea what he's talking about when it comes to women has the nerve to call senator claire mccaskill unladylike. we'll bring you the latest on the todd akin disaster. good to have youhs gh folks. thank for watching. iowa kicked off the 2012 election in january. today it was the first state where people could cast their votes in person for the general election. the race is on. the race has been tight in iowa, but president obama has the momentum. the latest ten-day pollve

fr "real clear politics" shows president obama with nearly a five-point lead. iowa voters were out in full force starting at 7:00 this morning. one election commissioner said this could be a record-breaking year. >> this was by far the busiest opening day we've had t ar i've been in the office. we were thinking 100 people. 100 would have been a good number. that's what it was four years ago. we're well past that. we're not to noon yet. >> look at the early voting numbers from 2008 toee how big a record baker it could be this yr. 20 oll ballots were cast before election day. early voting favored barack obama over john mccain by 18 points. 58% to 40%. this year, 27 states and washington, d.c., will he early in-person voting prior to election day. the cpaig are eatan early voting participation at around 40% this year. two out of every five ballots will be filled out before november 6th in this election

cycle. today is truly the beginning of the end of the presidential election. butneanditesn m erition to take advantage of the new voting in this dynamic thing we call american democracy. here's a look at mitt romney's field offices in iowa. the romney camp pass 12 outposts acro the hawke state. w te ak a pde obsern. his field operation in iowa. the obama campaign has 66 of these outpost offices. the president's campaign has a 5 1/2-1 advantage over mitt romney when it comes to operation in iowa fed rent h campaigns. this is where campaigns stage the get out to vote efforts and organize volunteers. today, "the new york times" reported from polling places in iowa and found mostly outsken obama supporters. >> do you think that the romney ?rs a outoting e or are they more likely to show

up on election day? >> i don't see them. >> does this give you a false sensef security maybe? >> we're not taking anything for granted. i don't see them out here today. >> it's stunning for mitt romney to be so underppared to fight 's hheeblems as . the primary candidate. romney only started making frequent appearances in the state a week before the iowa caucuses. by then, it was too late. and he lost a tight race. romney's campaign should have refocused their efforts, but instead, they find themselveses rsloere cast today.t president obama is moving in for the final knockout punch. the obama campaign unveiled a full two-minute television video ad today with president directly addressing viewers. the ad is airing in four swing states, including iowa. it has the look and feel of a candidate's closing argument. >> it's time for a new economic patriotism. rooted in the belief that growing our economy against with a strong, thriving middle cls.

read my plan. compare it to governor roey's decide for yourself. thanks for listening. >> the president introduced the theme of economic patriotism into his stump speech at a campaign event in virginia today. >> during campaign season, you always hear a lot about patriotism. well, you know what? it's time for aew economi patism an economic patriotism rooted in the belief that growing our economyegins with a strong and thriving middle class. >> this is a new line in the president's campaign speech. it's not simply a call for policies and programsouprt me class. it's a contrast with his opponent. the contrast is on full display in another ad using mitt romney's own words. >> there are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no mter at, who are depeenporn, w believe they are victims, who believes government has a

responsibility to care for them, who believe they're entitled to health care, food, housing, you name it. mr .ll vote trent my job is not to worry about these people. >> one of mitt romney's central arguments of the campaign is president obama just has not createbs. wyonols that have not created the jobs america needs, then you know it's time to choose a new lead, get a new coach. get amica owinagai >> romney's spokesperson andrea sal lead out the official romney line on msnbc today. >> haven't created a single net new job. >> that was september 4th. excuse me.

today romneyost thiargunt thr oor statistics announced a provision to its jobs count from march of 2011 to march of this year. the revised number includes an additional 386,000 jobs. this means more than 5 mlion jobs have been added since presenama ok fice th bin here? there are more jobs now than when the president took over for george w. bush in january of 2009. this has been one of romney's main attacks on the president. and now, it's off the table. romney isn't in a position where he canordoose ais weapons. i think he's scrambling big-time. all the polls show that. on a personal note i can't wait for the debates. one of the lines being used by the republicans right now, the conservatives is that mitt romney is just this great mehea t debater. can somebody remind the american people, and i'll do it right now, that we have a smart guy on

our side? president obama, let me remind you, is a fierce competitor. he will be prepared. he knows his material. he knows who he is. he knows his accomplishments and he knows exactly where heants to te cry can you really say that about mitt romney? get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's estion. can the president sustain this momentum for 40 days? text "a" for yes, text "b" for no to 622639. ys t our blog at ed.msn ed.msnbc.com and leave a comment. we're joined by florida congresswoman, debbie wasserman-schultz, chair of the democratic national committee. congresswon, good to have you with us tonight. >> thanks, ed. good to be with youain. >> yt. draerfi in the ground game that you can duplicate this around the country, what you have been able to do in day one in iowa? >> well,ed, we're very proud if you look at the contrast between our two campaigns, president obama's campaign has been in the process and we believe suessflystshhe

nicant dynamic grassroots presidential campaign in history. that's why you see that the offices and the ground game and the grassroots network that we have across the state of iowa and across states in this country. in io, president obama was so proud toin iowa ihe cratic primary of 2008. he had an organization there that's never left. i can tell you that from now unl election day, i'm looking forward to being in iowa this weekend. ordond neighborhood toe to go neighborhood to talk to votesers about this moving forward. >> give us a snapshot of the swing states and the ground operation. i mean, we just showed the map of iowa. it's rather overwhelming. the intensity. and the ground game that president obama has got versus the challenger, mitt romney. does it look this way in all of the other swing states? >> ll, you,itromney, let's not just dismiss the organization that he has. when you have a handful of billionaires essentially trying to buy the white house for you, you know, you can pay for a few

offices and for some folks to get out there and knock on some doors. they ctainn'oi nothing. they've got an organization there as well. but we're proud that we have a grassroots people powered campaign. one that has folksut there, you know, thousands of door knocks and phone calls and we've got a lot of online outreach that occurs across theun e'ntg on grassroots operations to help carry president obama across the finish line. back to the white house. >> how important is the early voting? do you expect this kind of early vote in all of these states? >> absolutely. early voting is critical. we'rehrilled at the early d op effort we have. starting in iowa today. we also want to remind people that they've got to get out, there's still time to register to vote in states across the country. go to gottoregister.com. because they can get the information they need to sign up and regisr to vote. plenty of time l >> and what about combatting voter suppression? has this been the game plan?

is this the best thing you can to? >> you know what we've been doing, at the same time we've been fighting battles of voter suppression legally and been successful through federal courts with judges appointed by estsnocking these laws down, clearing away these obstacles, we've not been taking that for granted. we made sure we get the people the information they need to clear those obstacles away themselves and make sure they can get what they need to bring to the polls and also what they need to get registered to vo. >> a rig. the'enot of conversation, congresswoman, about polls o s and who's ahead. we can't find a poll where mitt romney is ahead. in fact, i made the comment, i would like to be in mitt romney's office because i'd like to see their game plan on how they expect to getthere, if you know what i mean. what is their roadmap to victory? ohio is crucial. and the early -- and the get out to vote, obviously what we just talked about, is crucial. does it have to be bigger than 2008 for president obama to win? >> well, you know, i don't want

to be -- you don't want to put t,the' up, whether we're down, we're concentrating on that ground game. you mentioned the debates earlier in your opening comments, ed. you know, t's not discount the fact that mitt romney is an experienced and skilled debater. he -- >> he's been all over the map, congresswon. i mean, the guy has beenll ovheap o hhren taxes. i mean, he's -- huh? >> ed, keep in mind, though, he's a pretty decent closer. he's had a lot of time to prepare for these debates. during the democtic national convention, reportedly he did a week of debatep mp heonhr 4s,one five debate practices. president obama has been practicing but he's got a day job, and he's been trying to balance that. >> i got to he some fun with this. he had a week of debate prep? and i must believe that the way he's been talking hs come out moonfused from ttat twhve seen. we've seen him stumble all over himself just in the last cycle,

he contradicted himself yesterday on health care. speaking to an nbc porter >> let's remember, he's going to come out and he's going to be prepared to, you know, just est heted states stage with the gives you some gravitas right there. and typically in the first debate -- the challenger was declared the winner. so let's just keep in mind that we can't take anything for granted. let's focus on the ground game. we've got 40ays to go >>'vot g d that's for sure. congresswoman deb bie wasserman-schultz with us on "the ed show." thanks so much. answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen. share your thoughts on twitter @edshow and facebook. we want to know what you think. coming up, yes, t's another vid o mitt ro. as surfaced and shows his true identity of how he views middle class workers in america. we'll show you the video and robert reich will comment. [ horn honks ]

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check the president's ad claims? and tell the truth? we'll have a romney fact check of our own coming up. and george w. bush will pay a visit to the island where mitt romney's m l. 'll ve all the details of bush's move to the cayman islands for a little trip to talk it over. share your thoughts with us on facebook and on twitter using #edshow. we're right back. alcium efficiently absorbed in small continuous amounts. citracal slow release continuously releases calcium plus d wiffntorn oaios citracal slow release.

welcome back to "the ed show." another video has sfaced showing e al mitmn "mrjones" has done it again. this time getting a video from

bain and company by a former employee. sometimes they'll get you every time, won't they? the video celebrates the company's 25th anniversary. and inclus footage from 1985 ofomalking about bain capital, the spinoff corporation he founded. at the time, bain capital was relatively new and romney explns the company mission. >> bain capital is an investment partnership which was formed to gompans.n startup companind then to take an active hand in managing them and hopefully five to eight years later to harvest them at a significant profit. the fund was formed on september 30th of last year. it's been about ten months then. it was formed wit$37 million in invested cash. >> editing of the video was done prior to "mother jones" obtaining it but the key phrase in the videotape is this. harvest them at a signifint profit. now, this may be no big deal to

private equity firm but let's be very clear. roic dib an economic model firmly rejected by the middle class of this country, because they are the ones who suffer. the people that lose their jobs to see themo overseas. that's an economic model. which throws workers to the wolves. fehion m s been gspin t throughout his campaign. >> i'm very proud of the fact that throughout my career i have worked to try and build enterprises, hopefully to return money to investors. there's nothing wrong with profit, by the way. that pfit -- at profit -- that profit -- that profit went to pension funds, to charities. it went to a wid array of institutions. a lot of people benefited from that and, by way, as enterprises become more profitable, they can hire more people. >> romney's words keep clashing withit whis why the story of mike ernst, a former employee of

ampad, has been so effective against romney. >> out of the blue one day, we were told to build a 30-foot stage. a grp ofeoplwa on that stage and told us that the plant is now closed and all of you are fired. >> let's bring in robert reich, former labor secretary under president bill clinton, now a professor at public policy at uc beeydut of "beyond outrage" now available in paperback. mr. reich, good to have you back with us tonight. i want to play another piece from the same 1985 video where mitt romney offers three reasons bain a company decided to re i is. >> three reasons. we recognize that we have the potential to develop a significant and proprietary flow of business opportunities. secondly, we had concepts and deyen vnd which would allows

hidden value in a particular investment candidate, and third, we had the consulting resources and management skills and management resources to become actively invved the compies wenveste in to help them realize their potential value. >> i tell you what, he has the corporate lingo down. we didn't hear one word about creating jobs and we never would under this economic model. do you believe we would? >> no, ed, in fact, creating jobs, ed, at best is a particularrodu m o long-term strategy to build new products and also build new markets and keep americans employed. but that is not the centerpiece of private equity and it's certainly not the centerpiece of bain capital. when mitt romneyas talking art abarin and maximizing profits, what he was talking about was a technique of squeezing payrolls. payrolls are 70% of the cost

structure of maeost an theasts to squeeze payrolls, get rid of people, cut benefits, to even cut wages. that is too often exactly what private equity managers do. because you see, they're not out for theong term. they're not out for the 20 or 25 years, the new prodts, the new possibilities. theyre o nho term, maximize profits for themselves and for their investors. >> so the connection here is, i believe, personally, that if mitt romney were to be president of the united states, he would support and advocate legislation rpioo us ould make it easier for outsource the jobs and he wants to have, you know, right-to-work in every state in america. he's been very clear on that. what does this say to the middle class? not to be fear mongering, but what would this do to the middle class in this couny? >> well, it's the same set of liithe soo

it's the same frame of reference we've seen coming from wall street and corporate america for 30 years now. i mean, even before that, when engine charlie wilson who eiseower ned to defense secretary, said what's good for gm is good for america, and v ve hs ridiculed because most people understood that what is good for the big corporation in terms of profits is not necessarily good for workers, even though at that time gm was uniozed and engine charlie's words more likely the fact then than they are right now. arsmeri hn f the last0 corporations do better and better and better and yet the median wage has gone absolutely nowhere, adjusted for inflation. most people are more incure in terms of their jobs and their benefits a drying coate profits should not necessarily come at the expense of workers but, in fact, that is exactly what has happened and the bain framework, the bain strategy is at the center of this strategy overall.

>> harvest is a very interesting word that he used. it's kind of like lingo, not a rm"of tbox."nth i remember back in the '80s when farming wasn't too bad and a certain player harvested so many numbers or we're going to go in and harvest a business. the lingo was -- >> when you harvest, the question is, what you leave back in the dirt. afteyou the haesti. >>ac ununy,se days, and certainly bain capital's technique and the technique of a lot of private equity managers and hedge fund managers and vulture capitalists is to harvest the profits and leave the workers back in the dirt th's what we've seen. 's htoonvince ece americans that that's been going on. they've been living it. >> robert reich, great to have you with us on "the ed show." thanks so much. coming up, mitt romney explains his winning strategy for the presidential debates. find out why he thinks this election boils down to three issues. u.s choices just might surprise ad akin keeps on putting his foot in his mouth. today, he called his opponen

unladylike and he called her an uncaged wildcat. we'll have the latest on the republican disaster in misuri. that's ahead. want to try to crack it? yeah, that's the way to do it! now we need a little bit more. a le mvaa? this is great! [ male announcer ] at humana, we believe there's never been a better time to share your passions... because the results... are you having fun doing this? yeah. that's a very nice cake!

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and we a bac owni folks.e mitt romney is revealing his strategy for what could be one of the biggest nights of his campaign. big numbers here, folks. 52 million people are expected

to wat next wednesday's debate with president obama. and mitt has a plan. he says he's goi to go out and think the president will not be able to continue to mischaracterize my pathway and so i'll be able to describe mine, he will describe his and people will make a choice. >> karl rove loves the idea. he wrote today in t "wall street journal," "mr. romney mustall out the president and thcoain a presidential tone." sounds good. and romney's takenis advice to hear in fact, he says there are three issues he needs to correct the president on. whes sn favor t one -- of of liquidating the automobile industry, nothing could be further from the truth. my plan was to rebuild the ao industry and t it through

bankruptcy so that could happen. >> oh, really? romney's starting with an easy one here. we know exactly what he thinks about the automobile loan. because herote about it in 2008. romney said, let detroit go bankru. he said, federal money could kill the automobile industry. but thshnjecti dha e luppe. ma gpe financing from the taxpayers. and, of course, michigan's unemployment level hit its lowest point in three years. general motors is reporting profits again. now, mitt romney wants to set the record straight. he says he actually wanted to rebuild the automobile industry ybe romney can explain his stance on the automobile industry for voters in michigan and ohio during the debate. where he is trailing. here's the second thing that mitt romney wants to clear u for all of us out there. we tlt ays i'm in fav o people. no, i'm not. i'm not going to reduce the taxes on the wealthy at all. in fact, i want to lower taxes on mid-ld incodle income people. he says i want to raise them on

middle income people. ally? completely acte it will be interest to watch romney set the president straight on his tax cut plan. we spent time on "the ed show" trying to figure out how he'll balance the budg without raising taxes. in fact, romney might have revealed too much about his tax plan to a crowd in ohio yestday. listen ase t the not to expect any tax cuts. >> i want to bring the rates -- don't be expecting a huge cut in taxes because i'm going to lower deductions and exemptions. >> romney just said he'd cut pey can give us more facts about how that would help the middle class during the debate. here's the third issue romney wants to fact check the president on -- >> he says i'm opposed to ortion even in cases of pe and incest, and the life of the

mother. that's wrong. one ad after the other of his has been determined to be factually inaccurate. >> hopefully romy can finally clear s position on abortion during this debate becse we're all confused. you see, in19d abortion should be safe and legal. in 2002, he said he'd preserve and protect a woman's right to choose. wait a minute. in 2007, romney said he'd be delighted to sign a ban, a bill to ban abortions. and tonight,ispa bsite identifies me wants to overturn roe v. w e wade. he supports a personhood measure. romney says president obama has, well, he's just gotten him all wrong on all of theseissues, these threbig ises. yb criheth for us coming up on wednesday night. i'm joined tonight by steve benen, msnbc contributor and writer for the maddow blog. he keeps track of mitt romney's ndity.n a series call mitt

great to have you with us tonight, steve. romney's own pollster said last month, we're not going to let r campaign be dictated by fact checkers. so why is romney's debate strategy to fact check the president? i find it interesting. >> thaa good quti i thngn the way over here, how i haven't been in college for a long time, but i remember being a freshman and taking psych 101 and remember learning about something when pele identify their most glarin faults and proct those faults on to the other ople. i'm thinkhi aat example of that. because mitt romney has demonstrated over the course of several months as one of the most dishonest i've ever seen. so for him to turn around and say he wants to look forward to using the debates to somehow suggest the president has bee dishonest, i think that's a classic exple of projection. >> you used the worisst tw yoveprm that? romney has a rough track record when it comes to telling the truth? >> you know, it's funny, you mentioned, i do this series

online at maddowblog.com every friday afternoon chronicling mitt's mendacity. it's quite a list becaut thoit'etwfully long. it's hard to even count all of the times mitt romney has said something that's just glaringly breathtakingly dishonest, from the economy to energy policy, to national security. it's astounding. i remember paul krugman earlier this year described mittomney ha b athoca his approach to the truth. i think on average, all things being equal, that's not an unreasonable thing to say. >> can romney make president obama look like a liar? >> it's going to be very difficult. i think it's fair to say that the president has been tough on mitt romney oflate. grve running aeries oer you mentioned earlier in the show about the 47% ad in particular. but all those ads stand up really well to scrutiny. there's nothing in any of the president's ads that has been plainly untrue. i think all candidates and all politicians are going to try and put their o spin on the facts, buhesiee accurate and honest throughout

the campaign. i don't think mitt romney can say the thing. >> it's going to be interesting. that's one of the dynamics of the first debate, how aggressive president obama will be in calling out mitt romneyn how inaccurate. we'll callcu o e ,ll use the word dishonest, about his position. steve benen. good to have you with us. thanks so much. there's a lot more coming up in the next half hour of "the ed show." stay with us. >> if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try shut that whole thing down. >> the missouri republican who has no iow a man's body works is now calling his opponent unladylike. and tammy baldwin's campaign is hitting tommy thompson for pledging to do away with medicare. the latest o those senate races, next. and george bus i pip on mitt romney like a cayman island stingray. tonight, we'll show you why"w" just might be mitt romney's

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like the droid razr. welcome back to "the ed show." congressman todd akin, well, he has struck again. this time, the republican senate candide demeaned his opponent, senator claire mccaskill. akin told "the kansas city star,""ihink we have a clear path to victory and apparently claire mccaskill thinks we do, too, because she was very aggressive at the debate which was quite different than it was when she ran against jim talen. she d a confidence and was much more ladylike in 2006. but in theeb ori s came on swinging and i think that's because she feels threatened." republicans are trying to ignore akin's latest sexist comment. an rnc spokesperson said "i think it's best if the nrsc hs inhe questions

because we're so focused on the presidential." the nrcc spokesperson said, "decline to comment." it gets worse. according to "the los angeles times" akin tolsuppoers, "theirst twotewo it's like somebody let a wildcat out of the cage. she was just furious and attacking in every different direction which wases a little bit of a surprise to us." you know, it's par for the course, from the cdidate who said this -- >> it seems to me, first of all, from what i understand from doctors, that's really rare. if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> of course, akin tried to apologize and now that republicans are struggling to regain the senate, they are starting to throw their support behind the ctroversi stday, the nrcc officially endorsed him and the chair of the democratic senatorial campaign committee says the endorsement taints every

republican senate, senator running in this election cycle. >> just a few weeks ago, ery one of thoubns said that what he said was so offensive and how he said it was so offensive that they could not support him. and they are going to have to answer to the question about why is it not offensive today? i think that is a legitimate question that is going to be kenot ho republicans who now are going to endorse him or put money in, but of every republican candidate who is running. >> joining me tonight, keli goff, who is political correspondent for root.com and r huffington post." great to have both of you with us. keli, you first. how offensive is this? how damaging is it? is it something claire mccaskill has to respond to? >> well, i'd say on a scale of 1 to 10, we're heading into, like, tertory, . in ataoihi actually makes me wonder what must a republican candidate or any candidate do to not get

support? right? like, i think at this point we have to start having a competition just to see where the lines of offensiveness, how far we can push these boundaries. apparently making rape jok sost comments doesn't do it. maybe somebody has to drop the "n" bomb, but with rick per re and the rock thing. >> sam, how does he overcome this >> i don't think he does. todd an should have aee shoun'eaou w women's issues because it causes him more problems than it's worth. obviously missouri is a conservative state, or trending conservative. it's not going to vote for president obama like it did. claire mccaskill has always been in a dog fight with respect to the senate race. you know, if som respects if i were the nrsc, i'd be rti ford akot t wec ifnd up in the senate, his ima image, the stuff that he says, the possibility he can say something even more, you know, outrageous, that would weigh over the party every day. i don't think they want that. >> and, ed, let's not forget,

ll d of their own that has new shows the female candidate they're supporting, among them, claire mccaskill, are doing very well in the races because of the perception of the gop's stance on women's issues. that's what the polling is indicating. shelley berkley'race elet warren's state. claire mccaskill's race. it's helping democratic female candidates. >> because the problems the republican party has very few constituencies left they can rely on. it's pmarily old, wte men. if you wantoliene wen heanhe b alienated in this process, you have politicians like todd akin. they're suffering a gender gap. this makes it worse. i know it won't have an effect in the missouri race when it comes to the presidential contest, but it creates an image problem for other races in -- >> that's why nobody wantedo ey have t bausehey wt win the senate so bad. here's a new poll. let's take a look at the indiana senate race.

congressman joe donnelly two points ahead of state treasurer richard mourdock. it's in the margin of error. it should set off alarm bells at the nrcs,houldn't it, sam? >> ah ian,sts i a trend not just about indiana. it's about, you know, maybe half a dozen states now where we're seeing democratic senate candidates basically rising up above the republican opponents. yohave to look at larger trends to explain it. discsed hhestthink is almost abwhn handle the economy has changed. it used to be obama was suffering a big deficit next to romney with that. since several weeks ago, probably tied to the convention, those numbers have turned and all of a sudden the democratic brand with respect to the an rlin brand. e re par >> mourdock who has been a hardliner, he's been trying to embrace the moderate positions claiming he's more open to compromise, ciming he will protect social security and medicare. but this is not the same mourdock who defeetedichard

lugar in the primary. are richard lugar and others paying their price for the extremism? >> i would add to what sam said, part of the afrmath of 47%-gate. it's tough to make the argument u're best on the economy when you think you shoul only be infor h t pe onhe economy, right? that's how the comments were percei perceived. to your question, ed, i want to add, this is not just having a trickledown effect to other senate races. the only shot we have at electing a new womanovernors tu - >> i tiet-wide, no question. >> who shouldn't be in a neck and neck race, but is, because of what's going on nationally with the gop. >> keli goff, sam stein. coming up, a hidden video at a mitt romney fund-raiser has spked controversy outit eyas iestments in china. we'll tell you all about it next. yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues

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in china. and later george w. bush is staying away from the campaign trail, but his trip to the cayman islands could be a headache for mitt.

when i was back in my private equity days we went to china to buy a factory there. and, boy, about 20,000 people, and they work in these huge factors. they make various small appliances. and ase wer wngo t li sg work, the number of hours they work for days. what they earned, living in dormitories with the little bathrooms at the end, maybe ten rooms. in the rooms they had 12 girls per ro. three bunk beds on top ofach wmek e show." you know, mitt romney never specifies what factory he's talking about in that clip from the fund-raising dinner in florida, but his account of visiting that factory is renewing interest in his investments in china.

and new report fin t it yuseait romney describe, the long hour, the low wages, the dormitories filled to the brim, were practically the pitch that had him invest in a company in china back in 1998. the "theostoobe" reports on a document put out by global tech appliances, china based home appliance company, on april 8th, 1998. the document meant to attract investors noted the company used inexpensive labor and peak production periods required n- ss day.kweeks and two it also describes the 14 buildings that served as dormitories for up to 3, 700 workers. by way, the inexpensive labor is put it lightly. asteay1998, global tech employees received a wage of 24 cents an hour. that's less than 2% of u.s.

wages at the time. the global tech document also advertised its low tax liability, being located in china, meant a lervera effective tax rate than u.s. corporations paid at the time. the company also said the operations would not be subject to material united states taxes because it should not be considered to have significant income efftively conneed ra or business in the united states. guy plays all the angles, doesn't he? so mitt romney, the presidential candidate, who now talks tough on china and says that president obama isn't tough o china, what do you think he did wh a thrmn? well, on april 17th, 1998, just 9 days after the document was released, brookside incorporated, an affiliate of bain capital, auired about 6% of global tech. leshareholder, sole director,

president and ceo of brookside incorporated. mitt romney chose to pay less taxes and exploit workers all for profit. middle classers, youervous tonight? u t . tot ur survey, i asked, can the president sustain his momentum for 40 days? 99% of you say yes. 1% of you say no. coming up, george w. bush is ba. this time he's going to be dancing up a storm inhe cayman u t evehe s he's pulling only five days before the election. we'll bring you the details next. m also a survor of ovaanr,ute er

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and the big finish tonight, what to you mean he thought he was gone, never to be heard from again? george w. bush is leaving the ranch for a tropical vacation. just five ds before the election that's right. just before you go t . ile heading down to the cayman islands to remind everyone where mitt romney hides his money. bush will be the keynote speaker at the cayman alternative investment summit. along wit bilonai ricrd branson. the summit, i guess you could say is like a summer camp for rich guys. they offer a seminar on, let's see, how to capitalize on asia as an emergin fund superpower. mitt romney would love that one, don't you think? if you don't like financial

regulation, you can attend a eech onccng regulation as a way of life. and influencing the regulators. can't you just see bush saying, i'm down there to try to make them influence the regulators? republicans have been ing a greatob by keeping bus away ection season, but bush didn't attend the gop convention, and he didn't get a lot of mentions there, either. in his videotape appearance, well, was not played in primetime. just when republicans thought that they were rid of w. he' ck t time he could be costing romney votes right before the election. how's the public going to view this one? for more, let's turn to msnbc political analyst and "bloomberg view" columnist, jonatn alter. >> hi, ed. >> everybody'soing toay attention --athaou wisni everybody's going to pay attention to what w. says. what's he going to say about offshore accounts?

isn't he kind of walking into a mitt romney minefield here? >> he's not going to say anything about offshore accounts and wl steer as far clear fro what it does is it reminds voters of what they already know. that they learned about this cayman islands swiss bank account thing months ago and it did serious damage to mitt romney. ma impossible to tell how much the lls don't actually tell that. but this really -- you could argue before the videotape this did as much as anything to wreck his campaign. americans are smart. they might not be financial wizards but ty knowou d't puurey tayn islands just for a good investment. you're putting it there, you're keep it secret f a purpose to avoid taxes. it's very hard -- >> this just a bad spotlight at a bad time. >> terrible. and, buthe rl pem i

whit romney did in 2007 before he ran for president at the first time. any rational would-be presidential candidate, the first thing that they would do would be to make some sacrifices in tir oancial l for appearances stake. >> sure. >> why would he not get any fund he was involved with out of the cayman islands, out of the swiss bank accounts? not be cutng crs w his i.r.a. and all the other things here. it's just -- it's beyond reason. why he would be exposed this way. and a lot of republicans are saying the same thing. >> well, how angry do you think priebus a mitt romney are at bush for pulling this one? >> they can't be hay. it's almost at this point like mitt romy can't catch a break in this campaign. >> he really can't. it is amazing. jonathan, good to have you with us tonight. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. "the rachel maddow show" starts